


Luck You to Lucky Us

by fair-gayme (quinnthequeer)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Falling In Love, First Date, First Kiss, Flirting, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, fairgameweek2020, for one of the scenes, happy fair game week yall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:48:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23171962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quinnthequeer/pseuds/fair-gayme
Summary: “That so? Well, hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. My semblance is good fortune. Lucky you, huh?” Clover said with a wink and Qrow’s world turned on its head.Thoughts ricocheted inside his skull faster than a diving Nevermore. Someone else had a luck semblance. He wasn’t alone. There was a really handsome and talented man who had a luck semblance who kept winking and staring at him. Maybe he really wouldn’t be alone.Clover kept walking through the mines and tried his best to maintain his military-grade poker face. Did Qrow catch that the wink was supposed to be flirty? Maybe he wasn’t being bold enough. Brothers forbid Qrow think he was straight. As his stomach twisted and twirled around itself, Clover wished that Qrow would pick up on the fishing line that he had just cast out. Only time could tell now.~~~~~~~A series of short scenes following our luckbirds falling in love for fair game week 2020 day 1 flirting/semblances
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 18
Kudos: 77





	Luck You to Lucky Us

“That so? Well, hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. My semblance is good fortune. Lucky you, huh?” Clover said with a wink and Qrow’s world turned on its head.

Thoughts ricocheted inside his skull faster than a diving Nevermore. Someone else had a luck semblance. He wasn’t alone. There was a really handsome and talented man who had a luck semblance who kept winking and staring at him. Maybe he really wouldn’t be alone.

Clover kept walking through the mines and tried his best to maintain his military-grade poker face. Did Qrow catch that the wink was supposed to be flirty? Maybe he wasn’t being bold enough. Brothers forbid Qrow think he was straight. As his stomach twisted and twirled around itself, Clover wished that Qrow would pick up on the fishing line that he had just cast out. Only time could tell now.

~~~~~~~

The days passed with stolen glances and excuses to be next to each other. They conveniently took the same routes at the academy and ate their meals at the same time. They conveniently seemed to always need to train whenever the other one did. They conveniently happened to bump into each other in the break room between meetings. And Clover, conveniently, was the one who got to assign the partners for missions.

About a week after the mines, Clover gathered the Ace Ops, team RWBY, and team JNOR together for their next mission briefing. And, of course, he had made sure Qrow was there too. In fact, he specifically had told Qrow he hoped he’d see him at the meeting (besides the whole fact that it was an Ironorder). He had considered adding a winky face to the message, but the professional in him won out. The winks were just going to have to wait for in person.

Qrow was nervous as he walked into the mission meeting room. Not because of the mission itself, no this was another standard grimm search and destroy mission. Rather, the knots in his stomach were caused by his fears of messing up a chance with Clover and the knots in his hair were from a sleepless night of trying to plan what he would say if he happened to be partnered with Clover again. He just had to be less awkward than last time.

He ran his fingers through his hair as he had already done dozens of times in the mirror this morning in futile attempts to calm his bird’s nest of hair. Dragging his feet, he followed his nieces into the room, where he near instantly averted his eyes to the ground.

There was a table in the center of the room that had a map and some infographics pulled up on it, presumably for the mission at hand. But it wasn’t any of the displays that caused Qrow’s quick reaction and blushed face. No, instead he had walked in on the glorious view of one Mr. Clover Ebi leaning up against the table. 

This was a declaration of gay war. There was no way Clover could be flaunting his Ace Op Assets like that without knowing exactly what he was doing. Qrow knew this called for retaliation.

Clover was drawn out of thinking over the mission by the sound of girls giggling. Glancing up, he saw that Ruby and Yang had just walked in and were both ‘slyly’ pointing backwards and snickering. He followed the direction of their points to find his favorite fellow was following them in with a large pale pink blush spreading across his face.

He had enough self-confidence to know exactly what that blush was about.

Glancing over his shoulder, Clover checked that the kids were all distracted with finding their spots before returning his attention to Qrow. It only took a moment before Clover’s eyes were met with his newfound favorite color. Although Qrow was giving him a bit of a glower, Clover gave him a smirk in return. Tormenting his little bird had become his new pastime, and he was near certain that somehow (maybe thanks to his semblance), it was one of Qrow’s favorite pastimes too.

Wondering how much Qrow would let him get away with, Clover gave his hips a slow, sultry swagger as he stood up. He turned to face Qrow and, with a waggle of his expertly trimmed eyebrows and a tilt of his head, motioned for Qrow to come over and stand next to him. Qrow was still glaring, but Clover could see the dimples trying to peek their way out at the corners of his pretty little mouth.

Setting aside all his gay thoughts (only momentarily, of course), Clover cleared his throat the get the attention of everyone in the room. He gave them the standard mission spiel, trying to keep everyone’s interest as he went over the targets. The group livened up as he read off all the smaller group assignments. As he neared the end, Clover noticed his heart was actually starting to race a bit. He wondered if Qrow would be put off by the decision he had made.

“And now with all the kids and my ops paired up, that leaves Qrow and me to follow up on clean up crew for you all.”

Ignoring the various muttered snide comments from his team and Qrow’s kids, Clover only had eyes for Qrow. With one eyebrow raised, he waited for Qrow’s response.

“That so? Lucky me, huh?” Qrow said with such a self-assured grin.

Either time froze and everything that wasn’t Qrow vanished, or Clover’s brain just shut down due to being gay. He couldn’t have cared less either way now that he knew his corvid crush wanted him too. Now the games were in full fair swing. 

~~~~~~~

Qrow flopped onto the floor of the transport truck that would be driving the two of them home. After several successful missions together, it had finally come to this.

He brought his legs up near his chest, wanting to hug them and try to disappear but also not wanting to seem too pathetic. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to pretend for a moment that he was alone like usual.

“Qrow?” he heard Clover’s voice, soft and gentle, as the transport shifted down. “What’s going on?”

Even though he knew there was nothing but concern in Clover’s voice, Qrow couldn’t help but feel defensive. “We both know it was my semblance that nearly cost us the mission,” he muttered into his legs.

“Nearly, but it didn’t.”

“That’s not the point, you almost got hurt.”

“Almost.”

Qrow brought his head up to try and glare at Clover, but instead he just saw the worry in Clover’s eyes and felt the sting of tears start to well up in his own.

“You’d be safer if you didn’t work with me.”

“I don’t think that’s true, you’re a very skilled huntsman. And besides, maybe I want to work with you.”

“Well you shouldn’t.”

Now Qrow couldn’t help but to draw his legs into a tight hug. He considered flying out of the transport before Clover had a chance to lock them both in there, but instead he just sunk his fingers into his legs and tried to breathe like a normal human.

Clover reached behind himself to shut the transport doors. As the engine rumbled to life, he slowly walked over to Qrow’s corner of the transport. Shifting a crate to the side, he went to gently sit down next to Qrow.

He of course knew Qrow’s semblance was upsetting to him, but Clover had never seen him this distraught over it. The mission wasn’t even that important to begin with. Clover was just glad Qrow was safe, but now his new mission was to comfort Qrow.

Would it be too much to put his arm around Qrow? All he wanted to do was wrap the poor man in a hug, but he was worried that it would be overwhelming. Instead, he just rested a hand on Qrow’s knee.

“You know I’ve been purposefully making it so we’re alone on missions, right? I want to be around you. I want to help you.” He squeezed Qrow's knee. "Please let me help you."

He felt Qrow’s gasp for air before he felt the huntsman start crying beside him. He moved his hand to stroke his fingers through Qrow’s hair, trying not to let himself get too distracted by the salt and pepper softness.

Minutes and miles passed by without either of them saying a word. Qrow felt his sobs start to slow. He didn’t know if he should feel more guilty or ashamed for breaking down, but he did know that Clover’s hand felt nice running through his hair. Clover’s warmth next to him felt like a magnet and he found himself subconsciously leaning in.

For a moment, Qrow was terrified Clover would push him away. Instead, he felt the weight of Clover’s arm drape around his shoulders and draw him in closer. 

“I don’t think I could have forgiven myself if you got hurt,” he managed to mumble.

“Well I’m right here, and not going anywhere. And besides, I can take care of myself you know.” A slight poke at the shoulder drew a small smile out of Qrow.

“Are you sure? You do use a damned fishing rod as a weapon.”

“I must have just always been training to use it for team attacks with you.”

Qrow felt his face grow warm and he knew it must have been doubly red between the crying and this blushing. He was too emotionally drained to even know how to respond.

As they sat in a comfortable silence, Qrow felt Clover’s thumb begin to sweep over him in a comforting rhythm. Part of him felt like falling asleep, but he’d be damned if he’d miss a single second of this.

“I should probably apologize,” he started saying hesitantly. “I’ve never really broken down or done anything like this before.” As he shifted his hand slightly to the side to make contact with Clover’s leg, he tilted his head to find Clover’s eyes. They were so close, so beautiful, so loving, that it almost took his breath away.

“Well, lucky me then,” Clover said as he brushed the hair away from Qrow’s face.

And then Qrow’s breath was well and truly gone.

Why did this feel like home?

~~~~~~~

The mess hall was lively with dinner time chatter, but Clover and Qrow had managed to snag a table off in the corner. Training had gone well that day and the two voraciously tore into their food before they even started talking.

As Clover began slowing down, he also began stealing more and more glances up at Qrow. Dear brothers it was beyond adorable how that man wiggled when he ate.

“Ya know, I think this Atlas food is starting to grow on me.”

“Really, now? Coming from the man who said there has never been a single spice within a hundred miles of Atlas.”

“Pfft. Maybe it’s just the company then.”

Clover turned his head down to try and hide his blush with a bite of food. From the corner of his eye, he could tell Qrow’s grin meant he was failing miserably. But after this many weeks by Qrow's side, Clover couldn’t even pretend like he felt embarrassed anymore.

After swallowing his bite of food, he tried to wash it and his anxiety down with a gulp of water. Might as well let the grimm out of the bag now.

“So, you know I’ve been enjoying how much we get to work together,” Clover said as he forced himself to meet Qrow’s eyes. He paused, letting himself get lost for a second to distract himself from his nerves.

The devilish glint in Qrow’s eye told him the other huntsman might have an inkling where this was going.

“Mmhmm. Didn’t think you’d keep stealing me all to yourself otherwise.”

“Well, I was wondering if maybe you would want to hang out sometime. Outside of work. Like…”

“Like…?” Qrow drew out the word as the two held eye contact. The mix of brattiness, happiness, and adoration in Qrow’s eyes was the only push that Clover needed to keep pushing through.

“Like a date. I… I’d really like to take you out on a date.”

Qrow blinked.

And then blinked again.

And still didn’t say anything.

“Or not. Not is good too. You know I really shouldn’t have assumed…”

Clover trailed off as Qrow reached out to grab his hand. Qrow was actually holding his hand. Breathe, Clover, breathe, he told himself.

“No, I’m really glad you assumed,” Qrow smiled and Clover couldn’t help but let out an audible sigh of relief. “I just wasn’t expecting that. Thought we were going to keep sparring around forever.”

“So in that case then… are you maybe free sometime this week?”

“I’d free up any night to go on a date with you. Lucky you, huh?”

Now it was Clover’s turn to blink like the lovestruck fool he was. Somehow he was lucky enough to get to go on a date with the man of his dreams, if he could manage to regain all the brain cells Qrow had just turned to mush.

~~~~~~~

There was a buzzing energy between them in their private ride down to Mantle.

There was a softer, more familiar energy between them as they ate in the small local restaurant Clover chose.

There was a blossoming sort of energy between them while they walked the city streets after dinner, their hands brushing together with each step.

Qrow wouldn’t have given it a second thought if Clover led him right out the city gates and into the tundra. Instead, Clover seemed to be taking turns at random. That didn’t bother Qrow in the slightest as he savored every second he got with Clover outside the stifling academy walls.

He found at some point that, once again, their steps had somehow perfectly synchronized. Dancing a finger out against Clover’s, Qrow glanced to the side to try and gage Clover’s reaction.

Without missing a step or making any change in expression, Clover had twisted his hand around to fully hold Qrow’s. Qrow, on the other hand, nearly stumbled but managed to keep upright and in time with Clover’s step.

After a moment, Clover turned to look at Qrow. He took a long second to admire Qrow’s silhouette in the streetlight before he spoke.

“Don’t tell me you have the first date jitters now.”

Qrow laughed. “As if. I just don’t know how it is that you can make me feel like a school kid again.” Clover winked and then laughed as Qrow rolled his eyes in return. “Also how confident of you to assume that this is only the first date.”

“Awh come on, clearly you’ve been waiting for me to ask you out since we first met.”

“Met? You tried to arrest me!”

“Successfully arrested you, if I might say. But that’s beside the point. I just feel like the luckiest guy in the world to have you by my side right now.”

“Nah, somehow I’ve become the lucky one. I mean, have you seen yourself?”

“I know I look good, thank you very much. But I think I look even better with you in my arms.” Clover pulled his hand out before reaching around Qrow’s shoulder to draw him in closer.

This time Qrow really did stumble, snagging his shoe on a crack in the sidewalk. Seamlessly, Clover reached out to grab him and pull him back into his arms.

“Just like in the mines,” Qrow mumbled with a small laugh.

“Just like in the mines.” Clover laughed softly in return as he reached to cup the back of Qrow’s head.

Qrow sighed and leaded back into Clover’s touch. He felt so comfortable, so blissful, so… happy. But beyond that were these feelings for Clover that he knew he wasn’t going to be able to ignore anymore.

“Thank you for catching me,” he said as he took Clover’s other hand in his own. “And thank you for always being here for me.”

“Well then, thank you for falling for me. And thanks for tripping again so I had an excuse to catch you.”

“F-falling for you? Me? Never.”

The last bastion of Qrow’s mental barriers were faltering. Clover cocked an eyebrow. All of Qrow’s fortitude fell away. Closing his eyes, he tried to remember how to breathe.

He felt a pressure on his forehead as Clover leaned his head against his.

“Would it make it easier for you if I admitted that I fell for you too? Dare I say, Mr. Branwen, I seem to have quite the crush on you.”

Qrow opened his eyes and found himself staring into an ocean of his favorite color.

“To be honest, I think I have a bit of a crush on you too.”

“Then it seems like we’re the perfect team.”

Like an invisible yet infinitely strong force was drawing them together, they closed the distance between their lips and brought time to a standstill. After forever in a moment passed, they drew apart for air in the same instant.

“Lucky us, huh?”

“Lucky us.”


End file.
